Joy is...


Lately, I’ve been learning to keep my eyes (and heart) open to those things that give me joy.  As crazy as this life can be, I want not to miss the beauty that surrounds me.  I want to exemplify for the boys, what it means to slow down and breathe deep of all that God’s given us.  Here’s what I’ve been joyfilled over these last few days…

Joy is…
…watching the daffodils pop their blooms all over my yard…

…taking the boys to see the baby chicks at Coastal and watching William get excited as he teaches Calvin the sign for “bird”…

…watching William turn every stick he can find into his latest and greatest “gun”…

…my winter Daphne in bloom…I think this is what Heaven is going to smell like…

...driving less than a half of a mile from home to see a a breathtakingly beautiful snow capped Mt. Hood without any power lines obstructing our view (o;

…the anticipation I have while waiting for all five of these Camellia blooms to burst…

…A little boy wearing boots for the first time outside (the way he wobbled when I first put them on him made me smile…really big)

…watching that same little boy wear and eat dirt for the first time this Spring (o; 

…an orchard to walk in…whenever I want (thank you Jeff & Katie!)

…William, seeing how his boots fair in mud…

…watching Farmer Charlie fertilize his field (while William squeels, “It’s Farmer Charlie Mom! Farmer Charlie!”)…Something about seeing a tractor at work for the first time this year…

...watching my boys eat applesauce without shirts on (a sticky, but very fun, mess!)

...a blender full of smoothie…and two little boys who slurp them up (without any knowledge of all the veggies I just got them to eat!)


…finding notes that remind me I am loved…

Thank you Lord for the joys you bring into my life.   
May I live in such a way that reflects how truly grateful.

"Therefore with joy will you draw water from the wells of salvation."  Isaiah 12:3

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jan. 25th, 2010 Not long before he'll be running!

William's been progressively showing us how he's learning to walk on his own; no mommy or daddy's hands to hold onto. It's pretty cute, cause he'll look at something he wants that's a ways away and just stare like he's thinking about how to get there. Then, he'll just take off and see how far he can get before he falls. I finally captured a few moments on camera...(okay, so I couldn't figure out how to get them right side up. It's not like I shot them sideways!...so sorry)
Read more

A Bountiful Harvest

Image
As many of you know, I enjoy gardening.   It’s changed a bit over the years…we lived in Portland with room for only a few tomato plants, we moved to the country where I inherited a 4000sqft piece of gardening freedom where I planted LOTS, I had William and planted a little less and then I had Calvin and let the weeds semi take over (o;   Needless to say, my love for the dirt and watching things grow hasn’t changed.   It’s been fun to see William’s hands in the dirt while we plant, as well as his excitement as he sees a tiny green leaf poke through the soil.   Calvin, well he’s learning to love dirt too…the taste that is.   I’m sure, as he grows, that he’ll learn to love an aspect of it too (even if it’s simply a dirt clod fight with his brother…I can see it already). And this is how the cupboards (and the freezer, and the dehydrator…) are filled… Preparing the soil    Mounding up the rows… Strawberry picking with friends (William 3 ½y, Peter 2 ½y, Calvin 7
Read more

March 25th, 2009 First SMILE! 1 month, 2 weeks, 4 days

Image
William has given us a few "for real" smiles over the last couple days. Not the ones that come across his face while he's sleeping (from either gas or a dream about his mamma's milk), but the ones that tell us he's starting to focus and respond more to our voices. I was at home alone when he did it for the first time. He fixed his gaze on me while I was talking to him and smiling at him and after he looked like he was thinking about it for awhile, he did it...he smiled! It made me so happy inside and I had no one to share it with-not even a picture to prove it! It's neat how something so little can be something so BIG. Since then he's charmed dad with his smile. I finally caught some on the camera today. He gets all excited and starts moving around a lot so some have some blurry hands in them. His head is a bit cut off as I was taking the pictures myself and didn't realize it until he was done smiling. You can still see how cute he is though
Read more